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Old Thu Jan 09, 2014, 11:12am
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Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Arlington, TX
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Just my opinion...blast away if you disagree...but I think the biggest problem is that many officials (primarily newer officials) cannot make a distinction between a coach behaving badly and one that is simply competitive and emotionally into the game. It took a while for me to get to that point and in all honesty I got there primarily by watching experienced varsity officials in games and the better officials at the camps I attended. I had always been told that officials were the only ones in the gym that didn't care about the outcome...but that took a long time to sink in. By talking to officials and making note of when they talked with coaches...addressed comments...when they issued warnings and when the went to the T I eventually got there.

Coaches are attached to their players, they see them work hard all the time (hopefully), they want them to succeed, they want to win and are, by definition, looking for ways to make success easier for them. All that means they are watching the action, to a certain degree, with their heart and not their head. My experience tells me emotional coaches get loud and start "working the officials" when things are not going well. That may or may not coincided with when they are losing a game but it usually coincides with when they are getting frustrated with their team. They probably know the foul count is out of whack because their guys are grabbing and pushing because they are not playing decent defense, but getting on them isn't helping. So, they go to the next logical (in their mind) suspect. I have found that in these situations you can often get a coach to settle down if you just acknowledge them and maybe answer a question. Many times a simple "I didn't see it that way coach" or "I'll try to watch for that coach" goes a long way.

Again...just my thoughts.
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